Talk:Bradley Angel
References *Referred by Allen Gunn *Greenaction *Contact information *Bio from Environmental Justice Symposium, Environmental Law Society, UC Berkeley *The History and Future of Environmental Justice - KQED Quest Recent Projects (2005-2006) *Bradley Angel, executive director of the environmental watchdog group Greenaction, said Thursday that in the next few weeks, he will be talking with residents and announcing steps to get Stericycle to close its incinerator in North Salt Lake. Greenaction will also be encouraging other states to stop sending waste to the plant, Angel said. And work will be done to see if the plant can use a sterilization technology instead of incineration. "Information is very powerful, and knowledge is very powerful," he said. "Now we have many residents and parents who are sending their kids to schools in this area that are not happy with this new knowledge and not happy with an incinerator in close proximity." (Deseret Morning News, 18 August 2006) *Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, says that's not enough. Stericycle should switch technology from incineration to sterilization, he said. Incineration of medical waste isn't required by state statute but is permitted. (Deseret Morning News, 16 August 2006) *"We have a situation where young families are not only making a financial investment as they're getting into homeownership, but many have infants and young children that are particularly susceptible to dioxin," said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, a California-based environmental group. "They are being polluted without being informed of what they live next to, and that is unacceptable." Inadequate regulation? Stericycle is the nation's largest medical-waste disposal company. Its North Salt Lake incinerator sits at the south entrance to Foxboro, at 90 North and 1100 West. Company officials denied repeated requests over the past six days for comment for this story. (Deseret Morning News, 13 July 2006) *"There's been extensive and repeated soil removals," said Bradley Angel, executive director of local environmental group Greenaction, a longtime critic of the site. "We still don't believe it's safe." Angel said state and federal agencies say there is no threat from toxic chemicals that might lie underneath the homes, because their concrete foundations protect residents from possible exposure. ... "We trust the state claims as far as we can throw them," he said, adding that the DTSC repeatedly told residents the site was clean only to come back and remove more soil. "No state official would put their family in those houses. Who in their right mind would want to take that risk?" (Midway Village riles Peninsula green activists - The Oakland Tribune, 15 June 2006) *Hunters Point is in the southeastern part of the city, and most of its residents are low-income and nonwhite. Reports over the years, including a landmark study by the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice, have documented that communities of color are located disproportionately near toxic sites. "The plant was a symbol of environmental racism," said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, a mobilization group that helped with the fight. "It was across the street from homes dealing with so many pollution sources." (Big victory for Hunters Point activists / As PG&E closes its old, smoky power plant, the neighborhood breathes a sigh of relief - The San Francisco Chronicle, 15 May 2006) *Inentec officials remain confident the emissions data from test runs of its prototypes will withstand scrutiny. They see as their main obstacle Greenaction's executive director, Bradley Angel, who calls the melter "an incinerator in disguise." "The Inentec facility would emit highly toxic pollutants including dioxin into our air," Angel said. "Waste will be shipped to Red Bluff from far and wide, bringing medical waste into our community and near homes, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a day-care center, a church, orchards and a dairy." Farmer said, "To date (Angel) has not provided any technical comment to refute the rigor or adequacy of the results. Yet he persists in opposing the project for reasons known only to him." (The Sacramento Bee, 18 December 2005) *Chemical Waste Management Inc. wants to expand one landfill and build another at its Kettleman Hills hazardous and solid waste site. But local residents and environmental justice group Greenaction are vowing to fight the proposal, even if that means taking legal action. Bradley Angel, executive director of San Francisco-based Greenaction, also spoke at the meeting, saying "it's time that Kettleman City no longer be a dumping ground." "I would encourage Chem Waste to forget this. Save your money and everyone's time, and most importantly, the health of these people," Angel said. (The Fresno Bee, 21 October 2005) *The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday cleared the way to move almost 12 million tons of radioactive waste from the banks of the Colorado River, the source of drinking water for more than 25 million people across the West ... Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, said he was pleased with the decision. His group fought to move the tailings away from the Colorado River and also opposed moving them to an alternative site near the White Mesa Ute Indian Reservation, which the department ultimately rejected. (Associated Press Newswires, 12:27, 14 September 2005) *To tackle environmental crime, which disproportionately affects the city's poorest communities, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris plans to announce that her office has a new environmental justice unit. Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice plans to hold a rally Saturday in front of San Francisco City Hall to highlight health problems in Bayview-Hunters Point. That district has the largest number of families living below the poverty level of any San Francisco neighborhood. Executive Director Bradley Angel said Harris should push other city agencies also to cite polluting businesses, which unit leader Davina Pukari said she plans to do. (The San Francisco Chronicle, 1 June 2005) *Instead, let's focus today on something else that PG&E would prefer you didn't think about -- its failed efforts to track down highly radioactive materials that have been missing for months. ... "If an established company like PG&E can't keep track of fuel rods, that does not inspire a lot of confidence in terms of Yucca Mountain," said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, a San Francisco advocacy group. (The San Francisco Chronicle, 17 December 2004) *Despite a new plan to close San Francisco's gas-fired Hunters Point power plant in 2006, about 100 people stood outside PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) Hunter's Point generating station in San Francisco Wednesday, demanding the old plant be shut down immediately, or at least that they be given "a date certain." The protest, according to Bradley Angel, executive director of area group Greenaction, was the beginning of a new civil-disobedience campaign that will continue to target the power plant and PG&E, as well as government agencies seen responsible for the plant's continued operation. (Dow Jones Energy Service, 17:15, 8 December 2004) Bio *Bradley Angel is the Executive Director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice. Bradley joined with grassroots community environmental justice activists from California and Arizona in 1997 to form Greenaction. Greenaction works with urban, rural, desert and Indigenous communities around the west in campaigns for health and environmental justice. Bradley is a nationally recognized leader in the environmental health and justice movement. Since 1987 Bradley has worked with hundreds of diverse communities impacted and threatened by pollution, and has played a leading role helping communities win some of the most important struggles in the history of the environmental justice movement. Prior to co-founding Greenaction, Bradley was the Southwest Toxics Campaign Coordinator for Greenpeace USA for eleven years. Bradley has helped co-found numerous local, statewide, national and international environmental health and justice coalitions, including California Communities Against Toxics, Don’t Waste Arizona, Toxic Links Coalition, California Zero Dioxin Alliance, and the San Francisco Community Energy Coalition. Bradley also helped bring together Indigenous grassroots community activists and organizations to form the Indigenous Environmental Network. Bradley has been active in many other social justice issues since a teenager, including organizing on anti-war, tenants rights, affirmative active, anti-racism and other community and justice issues. (bio from Environmental Justice Symposium) *In a move described by the 26-year-old organization as "restructuring," Greenpeace USA will reduce its $29 million budget to $21 million, cut its U.S. staff from 400 to 65, and close all of its offices with the exception of its Washington, D.C., headquarters. Greenpeace USA has decided to end the door-to-door canvassing that has become the hallmark of its fundraising efforts and narrow the scope of its protest campaigns. ... Since that phone call, shock has turned into anger for many Greenpeace staffers, who have called an emergency general meeting in Washington September 13 to confront the executive board. "I risked my life for Greenpeace. I've been shot at, I've been jailed," says Bradley Angel, a San Francisco campaigner whose job is threatened by the cutbacks. "It is not acceptable for the board to exclude the staff from this decision. We are Greenpeace." Angel, like other staffers, puts the blame for the sudden upheaval on Greenpeace International's preference for global high-profile campaigns over regional activism as practiced in the U.S. Greenpeace International, he says, "is attempting to impose a strictly Eurocentric view of what Greenpeace should be." (The Village Voice, 26 August 1997) Interview notes 2006.11.08 4:00-4:45PM *This is going to take I think around 20 minutes. Will that work for you? :That’s fine *I did a little research on you today, and found 200+ articles on what you or Greenaction have been doing, but very little about you yourself – so that’s what I want to write about. I read in a bio that you founded Greenaction in 1997, but have been in social justice issues since you were a teenager. How’d you get into that? :I didn’t found it, we were a group of organizations. And it became official on New Year’s Day 1998. Happened after Greenpeace betrayed the communities; I quit in protest. A lot of other community-based organizations and native nations were outraged, they said let’s form a new organization, and Greenaction was the result of that. A lot of grassroots community environmental justice leaders from Arizona, East LA, South Central, desert communities. Probably 16-17 board members founding. *I read that you’d been doing this sort of thing since you were a teenager. Was it genetic? :Since a teenager – I grew up during the Vietnam war – very active as an anti-war student, also in anti-racist issues. I was in high school, 13 years old. My parents were concerned about the war, but not activist. But they took me to my first protest – one of the big Vietnam war moratorium protests in Washington DC, 1969 :I started organizing in schools – Seaford high school in New York. Through that, particularly when I joined big & small anti-war & anti-racist protests, got exposed to a lot of other justice issues. Then in college I was involved in anti-war activity, and in affirmative action and ethnic studies struggles. :1973, University of Buffalo – tried to dismantle ethnic studies and women studies, got very involved in that. Also prison solidarity and anti-racist work in work in Buffalo. Then I moved to San Francisco. *Why? :I just wanted to live in San Francisco. Moved here in 1976. Got involved in tenants organizing, in the early days of tenant organizing. Got very involved in the historic battle to save the International Hotel – huge battle in Little Manila – very involved in that for several years. Anti--intervention work, El Salvador and Nicaragua. :Started environmental work in 1985, as co-director for SFO nuclear weapons freeze campaign – quit because the organization didn’t really want activism to happen. Saw an ad for Greenpeace, for Southwest Toxics Organizer. They wanted to work with communities, and I thought that was interesting. :At that time the great majority of Greenpeace was white male. And I had very different politics. I was instrumental in diversifying our hiring, and developing respectful relations with communities – that’s how we became the #1 mainstream environmental group. *What were they doing before you joined? :It was mainly save the seals, whales, trees, all very good of course, but limited to small direct-action teams – crews of white guys hanging banners on a boat. We got Greenpeace to where we became very involved in working with low-income communities and carrying out mass actions. :Also did a lot of repair in Indian countries. Greenpeace had been anti-sovereignty. I worked very closely with tribal governments. The waste industry was targeting Indian country for waste disposal. Helped form the Indigenous Environmental Network, which is not now one of the most important in the field. Starting 86-87, also tracked explosion of proposals for locating hazardous waste disposal facilities in Indian and low-income areas, where they expected resistance to be weak. :That’s when we started work in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kettleman City. Chemical Waste Management was about to site a facility in a 1000-person Latino farmer community. I alerted residents and helped them organize. Went on 5-6 years – until company gave up. One of the great victories. *So did they just go somewhere else? :We had to make sure it wasn’t just about “not in my backyard”. When we heard they were going somewhere else, we alerted other people. There were incinerator battles all across the San Joaquin valley. They were targeted because industries thought that rural religious Hispanic communities would be least likely to resist. We helped build capacity and know-how in the communities, organized huge rallies. Communities from all over the place came to support, from Tijuana, Navajo, Arizona, East Los Angeles, Richmond. Helped build local and national alliances. All the battles were won – the companies mostly gave up. *What happened between you and Greenpeace? :In 1997, the international directors got the US directors to change priorities. The guise was budget cutting, but really Greenpeace just didn’t want to do community organizing any more. *What did they want to do? : Forest, ocean work, genetically modified food. I would have still had a job, but I resigned in protest. It was outrageous. A nuclear waste dump was planned on sacred land. Greenpeace was working very closely to the tribes. Five tribal governments, including elders, spiritual leaders agreed to do mass direct action, on the condition that Greenpeace will be with them. Greenpeace-US signed up for it. They backed out of it, and that was a betrayal. :But our communities would not back out, and we formed Greenaction. Our first commitment was to backup the tribes in Ward Valley. The federal government was going to evict the native population for a nuclear dump. The deadline to vacate was midnight, 2/13/1998. Twelve hours before the deadline we made our stand - not only are we not leaving, we were taking over. The elders said they were prepared to die to defend the land. People from five nations, Greenaction, and many others barricaded the roads leading to dump site. It was a 113-day stand off with federal police – the longest community based direct action in US history, through terrible weather, cold wind, snow, threats of arrest, intimidation. The government backed down. *Has anyone made a movie about this? :There are a number of films dealing with it, like [http://www.greenaction.org/wardvalley/defendingthesacred.shtml Defending the Sacred] a 20-minute movie *I read that you got arrested and shot. What was that all about? :It was 1990, in Arizona. I was still with Greenpeace, organizing against a hazardous waste landfill facility that didn’t even have permits. I worked with local residents to alert the community. On May 7 1990, the US EPA sent a warning with pictures and videos about me to the Maricopa country sheriff. I was just going there to testify. As it was a about to start, troopers came out from all over the place. They shot me 5 timers in the back with a stun gun, kidnapped us into the desert in the evening. I thought we were going to get killed in the desert. They set up a prison camp with SWAT teams. :But word got out about what happened. 4000 people from all over attended the next hearing. This grizzled old man stood up and–there’s a statue of my daddy, he was an Indian fighter and he’s the guy with the gun. This incinerator will never be built. And 4000 people stood up and cheered, including Indians :The local head of the EPA wanted to make a deal. How about one facility instead of three? I thought you said that could not be done. No deal. Government later announced they were buying off the company, pack your incinerators and leave town. *How are you funded? :The Greenaction board has no rich people or philanthropists – all grassroots. Several foundations said they’d support us but we had to change our board – put people with money in it. We just couldn’t do that. We’d rather go down for lack of funding. One of them to its credit did work with us. We said what we needed was to develop our board’s skills. They worked with us and added some wonderful people as well . *In all that articles I’ve read, it’s about fighting this or blocking that. Have you worked with businesses to help them become environmentally-responsible in the first place? Are there any businesses that you DO like? :Not that many. There’s Sanitec, which is into medical waste treatment. They use microwave disinfection to treat the waster. We’ve been reviewing their technology, meeting with them to ascertain their claims of virtually no emissions are true. They’ve asked feedback, our relations are cordial. We tell them where they need to improve – and so far they’ve been very responsive. :Really trying to come up with institutional changes – how get industry to be responsible. And we’ve been getting letters from companies that want to work with us. *Got any kids carrying on the legacy? :No, my wife & I were just laughing about that. Last two years we’ve be working with kids, to help locals organize. There was this young Latino woman with a baby in her arms. She said “I don’t know if you remember me, the last time I was saw you I was just a little kid, and I just want to thank you for helping our community". So now we’re doing leadership development– a youth training program on organizing, community building, planning.